Jim Balsillie
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James L. (Jim) Balsillie (born 1961?) is an accountant, and chairman and co-CEO of Research In Motion. He received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto, where he was admitted to the Zeta Psi fraternity, and an MBA from Harvard University in 1989. Jim was born in Peterborough, Ontario.
Philanthropic work
In 2000, Balsillie provided $10 million of personal funds towards the founding of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, adding to the $100 million already contributed by fellow RIM executive Mike Lazaridis.
In 2002, Balsillie founded the Centre for International Governance Innovation with $30 million of personal funds.
Statement regarding patents
Responding to the settlement by RIM against NTP, Inc., Balsillie listed several flaws with the U.S. patent system, particularly that too many "bogus" patents are issued. He also stated that the judge in the case ignored later findings by the U.S. patent office that NTP's patents were not valid, and quoted a Newsweek article in saying that the court's treatment of RIM was like "a judge in a murder case pondering execution while ignoring DNA evidence that exonerates the accused. Template:Ref